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I have finally seen this horror show. I was in a LFS last night picking up my new Bristlenose Pleco, and what do I see? Painted tiger barbs! It looked like Albino and Green tigers injected with that neon pink and red paint used in Kindergarten. It was the most hideous site I have ever seen. Not only because I know it is just not natural, but they were just ugly!

Now maybe I am just be over sensitve because barbs are some of my favorite fish, but does anybody actually buy these freak shows?

YIKES! Havent seen that yet but I'm sure it'll be around soon. Did you mention anything to the store @all?
One of my LFS's carries painted tetras, but the do put a sign saying they've been injected with a dye and that it's not natural...why they dont' just refuese to carry them I'll never know .

^_^
[hr width='40%']"Somewhere beyond happiness and sadness
I need to calculate,what creates my own madness...
and I am waiting for disaster"

why they dont' just refuese to carry them I'll never know

As long as someone is willing to buy it, they will be carried.

While I'm sure most, if not all, of us agree that it is a heinous and barbaric practice, it is a good money-maker for the LFS's. Take a normally $.99 fish, slap a little dye on it, and sell it for $2.99, and you've got a substantial profit increase.

It all boils down to economics.

Joe Potato

Yes I realize it's an economics issue. Slavery was a good choice as far as economics was concerned as well.
A LFS can do just fine by not carrying fish that have been altered, they make the choice to carry them. Seeing as the ones in my area carry so few of them, and I'd assume the same in other areas. The profit really isn't all that much.

^_^

[hr width='40%']"Somewhere beyond happiness and sadness
I need to calculate,what creates my own madness...
and I am waiting for disaster"

I realize that an LFS can do just fine by not carrying painted fish, but they are putting themselves at a disadvantage competitively. Many aquarists who do not realize that they have been dyed (or, if they do, don't know the process by which they are dyed) just think "Oh, that's a pretty fish", and buy it.

And, while I in no way support slavery in any way, shape, or form, it was a good economic choice. From an economic standpoint, free labor is about one of the best things that can happen to a country's international trading. It was a general uproar from the populace about basic human rights which brought down a lot of the slavery practice in the world, and it will take a similar uproar from the aquarist community to bring about the end of fish dyeing.

Joe Potato

So I take it this is your uproar?

Or is it that you're just turning the pot up to boil? Boiled economics are always better than other things that could be boiled.

^_^


[hr width='40%']"Somewhere beyond happiness and sadness
I need to calculate,what creates my own madness...
and I am waiting for disaster"

No, I had my uproar about a year ago and failed terribly. While it's all well and good that so many people on FP shout and scream about the injustice that is fish dyeing, the problem is that that is all it is: shouting and screaming.

I tried with one of my LFS's to get them to stop selling painted fish. I talked with the manager, told customers in the store what happened to the fish, and I'm now boycotting the store. They're still selling them. Didn't make a difference, simply because I'm one person.

There are not many FP members that I know of who have taken this crusade off the website and have actually tried to get things to change.

It's apparent that just boycotting isn't working, so things will have to be moved up to customer education. And, since it is a LFS-by-LFS case, there is absolutely no way to win. Call me a quitter, but I'm out.

Or is it that you're just turning the pot up to boil? Boiled economics are always better than other things that could be boiled.

And if that made any sense, I might just have a response to it.

Joe Potato

boil 'em mash 'em stick 'em in a stew

I don't even get why people think they are pretty. The ones I saw where hideous looking. To each his own I guess. I have yet to meet or here from anybody who actually bought "painted" fish.

As for the LFS, they also have the Betta wall of shame in front with the dozens of Betta's in the bowls the size of my fist. They also have an indoor "pond" that is maybe 100 gallons with a half dozen Tiger Oscars in it. One of whom was deformed like the Elephant Man.

Hi scotrun! Nice to meet you. Seems one of my white skirt tetras was @one point painted since it's slightly more blue than the others. I didnt notice it @the store nor were they marked as painted tetras. None the less one of them looks slightly more blue around the spine than the others.
Personally I really don't like the glow danios. They seem to look nipped half to death to me.

^_^
[hr width='40%']"Somewhere beyond happiness and sadness
I need to calculate,what creates my own madness...
and I am waiting for disaster"

I saw painted white skirt tetras the other day at an LFS... not to mention shovelnose catfish, tiretrack eels and other juvenile tank busters mixed in with normal fish. Any newbie could just think "Oh, what a cool fish!" grab it and then watch it grow and grow and die.

I was practically fuming with anger! I just don't understand dyed fish. It looks so stupid AND tacky. Like, diving dog and bubbling treasure chest tacky. It's like some little kid took a marker and scribbled on these poor fish. Except, we all know it's actually much more painful what they go through... arrgh.

I think people think it's okay to be cruel to fish, because we're nothing like each other. We can't even EXIST in each other's worlds. So, as is human, they think it must not be able to feel pain like we can... which isn't true at all...

*fume fume* ]:|